01 // BuildLean - How to Find the Right Product Categories to Play In

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Note: In the early stages, this blog will not reveal specific detail on the product to protect any potential Intellectual Property. I will use examples only to illustrate the process until it’s possible to do so.

Background

This is the first blog post of a series in “BuildLean” - Building a physical product for SME’s and Start-ups. I started writing this because the product world is full of content either aimed at or biased towards developing digital products. There’s a lot less information to help brands and founders navigate the complexities of physical product development which is very different and irrefutably more risky and difficult than developing a digital product.

I want to help founders and teams in SME’s and Start-ups succeed in their own product development and innovation journeys by sharing my own. This series is about taking you through my own journey in building a high-growth physical product business, specifically developing consumer electronics.

Although the very nature of innovation is uncertain, and building a successful business through product development is not guaranteed, this process aims to prevent wastage (Time, effort and money), by following a robust, lean and decisive process. Importantly, if you’re seeking external funding, a lean approach is critical. This will help prevent common Founder mistakes - cutting corners and blindly falling down the rabbit hole developing something that is not ever going to build a scalable business. I’ve seen many founders continue to develop something that is on the wrong track or inevitably going to fail, through hope and wilful ignorance. The best way to avoid this is by being radically honest, exercising critical thinking, and changing course when you have evidence your product idea(s) are not worth continuing. The process I will follow uncovers these hidden truths so the right decisions can be made at the right time. Therefore saving time and money, and giving the opportunity to embark on something else.

I'm prepared to stop or pivot when I have evidence it’s not a goer. “Pivot or persevere: When you hit upon something that is not working, you have two basic choices: change direction or keep going.” - Eric Ries, The Lean Startup.

Digital is well written about. You have resources like "The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries, and "Running Lean" by Ash Maurya. They do help a lot for physical hardware projects, but there is a lot of bias to digital which can get founders and SMEs into a bit of a pickle. This blog will uncover those hardware details that are usually overlooked or misunderstood but can have catastrophic effects on a business. It will also go into lots of detail on the research, design and development process as well as business.

A bit about me

I studied Industrial Design at University, and my career has taken me through various experiences from Research, Design, Engineering, Business and Marketing. 

I've been developing physical products for 16 years, launched over 11 products to market and worked with some of the most reputable brands around the world. All the products I have got to market have been from start to finish, either on my own or as part of a team. I'm telling you this because I haven't just worked on separate stages of each project, I've worked on them mostly from blank canvas right through to scale and post sales, and not just in the product side - Market research and business too. Which means, I understand the skills, blood, sweat and tears that go into getting physical products to market.

The difficulties of physical product development and succeeding in this space are written about a lot, you just have to see the data - CB Insights released a report of “The Top 12 Reasons Startups Fail” in 2021 (https://www.cbinsights.com/research/report/startup-failure-reasons-top/).

This data includes all types of Start-ups, but I wonder what the data would look like specific to hardware - probably worse and the reasons would shift. This frustrates me, because fundamental mistakes along the way can be avoided, but just haven’t been addressed at the right time, in the right way.

A Quick Note About Books & References

No one can know everything. My expertise is in Research, Design and Development in hardware, and I have business experience having set up a previous business and worked for a range of companies (Start-ups, Global Technology companies, FTSE 100, and agency).

But starting a tech start-up on your own is a whole new ball game - you need help from resources and real people. So over the years I've been researching, watching and reading all sorts of resources which have filled in the gaps. 

Here are the main books and YouTube channels I've absorbed which have improved my knowledge:

Books:

1. The Disciplined Entrepreneurship, by Bill Aulet

2. The Lean Startup, by Eric Ries

3. Running Lean, by Ash Maurya

4. Sprint, by Jake Knapp

5. Click, by Jake Knapp

YouTube Channels:

1. TheFutur - https://www.youtube.com/@thefutur

2. Daniel Priestley - https://www.youtube.com/@DanielPriestley

3. Key Person of Influence - https://www.youtube.com/@KeyPersonOfInfluence

4. Alex Hormozi - https://www.youtube.com/@AlexHormozi

5. Y Combinator - https://www.youtube.com/@ycombinator

6. LEANFoundry - https://www.youtube.com/@AshMaurya

Where to start?

One of the key stages founders go wrong is right at the start - "I have an idea".

"But the problem is, they go straight ahead - Designing, developing and sadly launching the idea without enough validation".

Physical product start-ups that include a healthy mix of electronics, mechanics, apps (IoT) are likely to take 3-5 years to get to market, and then you have another 5 years to scale. So all in all, you're looking at a ~10 year period of your life where you're living and breathing the same thing everyday - your business. Therefore, it's important you have some kind of enthusiasm or energy for the thing you're developing and who you're serving. 

I've read people talking about how boring businesses (with boring services that no one wants to do) are the ones with the most opportunity. But in the consumer electronics world, the 10 year wait just to see some success means you have to love it. And even if you do love it, will you in 5 years?

Welcome to the world of physical product development. You need perseverance and relentlessness.

I'm not trying to put you off, the journey is enjoyable when you learn to embrace it. I'm making the point to help explain the first step…

How to find the right space to play in for you

For transparency, I have personally done the exact steps below and they have been extremely effective in providing quality in the goal I am aiming for: Developing a physical product I love, to create a high-growth business. 

This is not going to be a linear approach, but rather a journey with iterative loops of learning and improvement. The old-school approach of rigid, gated stages (concept → design → build → launch) often locked in decisions too early, resulting in poor products by the time they hit the market. Modern best practice is to take a flexible approach to innovation. Think of product development as a continuous cycle of Explore → Build → Measure → Learn, where you frequently test assumptions and refine based on feedback. For example, once I move on to activities like market sizing, and find there isn't a business opportunity, I will revisit this step. However, once you've completed each step at least once, it will get quicker and quicker. 

1. Find your “Business” Ikigai. 

I know what you're thinking, "Not another person talking about Ikigai again". If you apply this level of thinking to a new business then it's actually a really effective start and it’s worked wonders for me on multiple occasions. But we’re not going to follow Ikigai exactly, I’m using it as an example and start point.

What is Ikigai?

The original “Japanese word ikigai refers to a passion that gives value and joy to life” (The Government of Japan, 2022). If you want to read up more on this, the most popular book is “Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a long and happy life”.

(The Government of Japan, 2022)

It’s often visualised with a Venn diagram. Your own personal Ikigai is a blend of:

What you love.

What you’re good at.

What the world needs.

What you can be paid for.

How can we apply it to finding what Start-up to start?

Although the origins of Ikigai are about finding your purpose, the fundamentals can be used to find a product idea or Start-up that matches your purpose, keeping you motivated, energised and engaged for the long period of time it takes to get a physical product to market.

By understanding your needs and passions, you can start to narrow down what areas you should be playing in, and there will be a few options and combinations.

To make this more relevant to finding areas for a Tech Start-up, we can slightly modify the Venn diagram to the 4P’s:

1. Your Passions.

2. Problems you’ve identified or experienced.

3. What you can be Paid for (Markets that are growing).

4. Your Prodigies (What you’re good at).

   
   

When you’re thinking about markets and industries which are doing well and growing, you might want to do some quick searches on google and ChatGPT. Look for trend reports on websites like: https://www.wgsn.com/ and https://www.ey.com/. These reports are a great source of inspiration for ideas.

How to find your Business Ikigai

This has been published many times in all sorts of different ways, so I've found one of the best processes to follow. To make it fun and engaging, use this free YouTube workshop you can follow along with by Thefutur. View the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAzs3amtEF

You can either create your own worksheet, or download my template in my download folder. To access this, sign up to my newsletter here: https://www.riptideinnovates.com/buildlean-newsletter

The template I’ve created is more specific to product development, and provides ways of organising your ideas.

My Ikigai…

I followed this process myself. I had around 10 - 20 ideas for each section and chose the ones my intuition lent towards. I’ve distilled the ones that made most sense below for an example (there were many more):

Passions	Problems you care about	Things you can be paid for	Prodigies
Sports	Healthcare	Selling Products	Design
Family	Wellness	Selling Services	Product Development
Lego	Sports Recovery	Licensing IP	Critical Thinking
Design	Ageing population	Development Partnership	Creative and Practical Skills
Art	Child Development		Teamwork
Mentoring	Sustainability		Various Sports

You can start to see themes appearing in my columns where there is overlap. This is a good thing because there's a strong likelihood I can probably find many ideas and opportunities that align in all 4 categories. When creating the list, don't be afraid to research different facts, opinions, statistics and data to help you.

Quick Tip: If you have experience in a previous companies technology, consider leveraging this to your advantage. Make sure you consult an intellectual property lawyer to ensure freedom to operate.

2. Goal Statements

I then converted the list of combinations into “goal” statements but deliberately kept it broad. The goal statements apply to all 4 categories above with different combinations and align with some current world trends.

"If you go too specific at this stage, it will drastically limit the amount of Product ideas you will come up with and force you into idea/ problem confirmation bias."

You want to keep an open mind, so you can explore all possible options, which will increase your chances of finding a high-growth product idea you will love.

Here are my goal statements (think of around 5 - 10):

1. “I want to help people age-in-place so they can live independently at home and improve people's lives as they age”.

   
   

2. “I have experience in sports and recovery and I want to improve access to wellness technology and products for everyday athletes or sports enthusiasts”.

   
   

3. “As a new father, I understand the challenges with looking after a baby and want to make the experiences easier so parents experience less stress and give more time back in their day”.

   
   

4. “I have identified a new technology that [Insert benefits], and I want to apply this to [Insert market segment/ category]”.

   
   

5. “I want to help toddlers learn better and engage in more screen-free activities to improve their development and long term mental-health”.

Now I have a broad view of what areas I should play in, I’m going to narrow this down in the next major step, “Finding high-growth product opportunities”.

Look out for the next Blog Post via my LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonny-marchbank/

Have you enjoyed this post? Leave your comments below.

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